steppin' out saturday: mother's day weekend

 on ian: top- target, jeans- sonoma, shoes- nike.  on me:  top- trinity (via zulily), jeans- old navy, sandals- urban outfitters, earrings- modcloth.

we took it easy this weekend.  we decided to have our mother's day dinner saturday night to avoid the crowds on sunday.  and while i named off about 50 places i really wanted to go- we decided to put those on a "date night" list & go somewhere family friendly so that ian would enjoy himself, which means we would enjoy ourselves.  sunday we all had breakfast in bed & i got to open my mother's day gifts- chocolates, a gift card to ulta (new makeup!!) a cd and some hello kitty workout headbands.  we lazed around for a while and then decided to head out for the day.  we had lunch at panera, took ian to target to get him a new car, played for a while at the neighborhood playground & then headed out for ice cream (sorbet for him, of course).  when we got home, ian napped while dave & i just relaxed.  when everyone was awake again we headed to dave's parent's house to have dinner.  i made sure to give my mom a call (they're in florida)!   after spending time with them we came home & crashed.  perfect days spending lots of meaningful time with my boys.

how was your mother's day?

tomorrow is a big day for us...  i am going back to work!  it's only 1 day a week, but i think it will be nice to have a few hours out of the house to get my work done and ian will make some new friends & have lots of fun.  we found a great place for him which i'm sure i'll talk more about later.  i'm so nervous, and a little sad.  as much as i want time to get my work done, i don't want to leave my boy this long.  so keep us in your thoughts tomorrow- but i'm sure everyone will be just fine!!

steppin' out saturday- st. patty's day

one of the things i dreaded most when we were planning to move up here was the weather.  i don't really like anything under 60- and it gets cold here fast and stays cold.  this past week has been a pleasant surprise- highs of 80 all week- shorts, dresses, sandals & tank tops.  ah.  my favorite- and it's march?!  it's been one of the warmest spd weekends in years.  we spent the entire day out & about- we started the morning at our favorite pub for kegs n eggs: beer (mimosas for me), corned beef hash, eggs, potatoes & sausage.  we left breakfast and headed for the parade- we were early, so we had to wait a while, and ian wasn't pleased with that.  he would've preferred running in the streets to sitting in his stroller- but we're good parents, so we made him sit in the stroller.  the parade was small- there were plenty of girl scouts, politicians, cheap candy, horses & bagpipe bands.  i'm not sure if i get all the scottish-ness of st. patrick's day, but everyone in chicago is apparently irish anyway (unless they're polish).  they were having an adult big wheel race afterwards, but we decided to take ian back home for a nap since we had a birthday.  after the nap we headed to a 1st birthday party and then back home for corned beef & guinness cake with bailey's frosting.  yummy.  now... what we wore... green of course!

 on ian:  romper- carter's- bought at consignment sale

 earrings- american eagle

tank top- old navy

shorts- modcloth

sandals- seychelles

nail color- essie- ole caliente

cardigan (shown later)- shop ruche 

i found a new hair tutorial on pinterest (hold your surprise) & tried that out.  since i work out every day of the week- i have to wash my hair daily, sadly, the weekend has become my  hair's "rest period."  i love the way my reverse braided bun turned out!  woo hoo!

did you party it up in green this weekend?

linking up here...

steppin' out saturday - he shoots, he scores

blazer- loft, tee- loft, jeans- old navy, shoes- toms.

on ian: top- old navy, jeans- old navy, shoes- nike

we were supposed to have a big family get-together this weekend, but my poor nieces got sick, so we had a little mini get-together.  we took ian to my in-law's house to hang out with his cousins.  the boys had so much fun playing with cars and super heroes.  we got home late, but  ian still wanted to play hockey since he's been away from his net and sticks all day long.  

ian's favorite thing to say when he plays hockey is "he shoots, he scores!"  he runs around shooting little balls into the net shouting his little catchphrase.  it's a pretty cute sight to see!  i wanted to upload a video of him playing and shouting it... but... guess what?  blogger won't let me.  what. a. surprise.

i'm linking up with mandy from the haps for sos.

steppin' out saturday- valentine's date

dave & i decided to have our valentine's date on saturday- grammy and grampy were available to watch the little beans boy, so we made a date of it.  we started out our evening by going to see dave ramsey speak.  it wasn't the cut up your credit cards now fest that i was expecting, but i still really enjoyed it.  we followed that up with dinner in the cute little downtown area by where we live.  we started off with a wonderful appetizer and then i had a delicious heart-shaped pizza topped with artichokes, prosciutto, tomatoes, arugula, mozzerella, lemon- delightful.  dave had a fabulous pasta dish with italian sausage & goat cheese.... nom.  our plan was to go across the street afterward for dessert & drinks- but we stuffed ourselves silly, so we took a trip to target to walk dinner off a bit.  after we had settled down- we headed back for an appetizer, dessert & drinks at what's becoming my favorite restaurant in the area (and i've only had apps and dessert from there).

dress: modcloth, tights: target, shoes: swapped

big valentine's day plans?  i'm pretty excited about tomorrow- it is my favorite holiday! 

steppin' out saturday - breakfast with santa!!

while we were at dave's company party friday, we took ian to spend the night with grammy & grampy.  his cousins annie & ellie were there too, so it was a big party.  the next morning, his other cousins christian, jason & gavin joined them for breakfast with santa at grammy & grampy's church.  there was sausage & pancakes and then santa arrived.  ian still refused to socialize with santa- he wouldn't even let me put him down...  his cousin annie however walked right up to santa and climbed into his lap without a second thought.  silly kids.

 this is as close to santa as ian was getting.  notice my nephew jason, (who won't even look at santa) in his mother's arms next to us

seriously, stop taking me to see that bearded guy!

 i refuse to pose for any photos, mother!

 stories!

on ian:  top- carters, overalls- vintage (they were mine), shoes- reebok

on me: dress- modcloth, tights & boots- target.

sos- thanksgiving edition

i decided to dress it up this year for thanksgiving since i feel like i have a closet full of dresses that i never get to wear.  i don't think i've worn this dress since easter, and i was excited to put it back on and give it a little kick- with some colorful tights of course.  my father in law decided to wear zubaz pants and a tunic that we brought him back from our honeymoon (quite a sight to see, really), so as he said, it was up to us to bring color into thanksgivng.  gee, i'm flattered.  yellow is not my color by any stretch of the imagination, but put it on my legs, and it's not so bad.  this was before i gained at least 2 delicious pounds...

 my hair:  needs to be cut

dress:  tucker for target

tights: target

heels- old navy

ian has been pretty sneaky lately when it's come to picture taking.  of course, he learned to say "cheese" last week, so now he's all about it... here he is caught in the act of eating a crayon...

shirt: chaps

speaking of pretty dresses i never wear- i'm participating in dressember hosted by blythe hill.  for someone who doesn't get dressed every day, this might be easy.  or at least a reason to get dressed.  so i'll try this every day, except at work, where it's pants and tops only.  boo.  but it looks like that's not even going to be an issue...  i'll do these posts weekly too, to spare you the daily torture.  ;)

steppin' out last saturday

last week i took photos for my very first sos, but... they didn't make it to my blog.  not to fear- i didn't forget this week.  however, after we went out and ran errands (and got berated in the kohl's parking lot in a case of mistaken car-dentity), i came home, worked out, and slipped back into my pj's for the remainder of the day... no steppin' out.  so let's pretend that i went out last night...

mama:  top & skirt- loft.  sandals: old navy.

baby: top & shorts- osh kosh, belt- ralph lauren chaps, sandals- old navy

i haven't worn this outfit in a while.  it hasn't... fit.  look at me now...  also, ian has little to no interest in steppin' out on saturday, or holding an adult's hand while walking outside of the house...